Super Eagles defender Troost-Ekong on preparations for AFCONQ, Lagos pitch, Republic of Benin

Watford star William Troost-Ekong is happy with the Super Eagles' preparations before their trip to Porto-Novo to face the Republic of Benin on matchday five of the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.

The central defender also discussed about the togetherness in camp adding that the players are eager to step out onto the
Stade Charles de Gaulle turf after four months without international football.

"The training has been good, all the boys are fired up, there's a lot of energy, everyone is working really hard and I think everyone is happy to be in Lagos as well to prepare. We are going to be ready for Saturday," Troost-Ekong said.

"It's always good to be in the camp, all of us we get along well and everyone is happy to be here after a couple of months of no international football."

Troost-Ekong claimed that he was impressed with the state of the Teslim Balogun Stadium pitch, where they have been training since Tuesday evening and which will host their last group match against Lesotho on March 30.

"They did really well, I saw some pictures from where I was before, and they did well to get it ready for us. Let's hope that the rain and the weather won't be too bad in the next couple of days.

"We are going to focus on the game on Saturday before we think about playing here."

The Super Eagles assistant captain is expecting the Republic of Benin to be tough opponents based on their performance in Uyo, where the national team had to come from behind to register a 2-1 win.

"It's going to a very difficult team, when we played in Uyo it was a hard game as well so we have to respect the opposition.

"We are going to go there to try and give everything for the three points.

"You are going to see a team that is ready to fight and give everything to try and get the job done," Troost-Ekong concluded.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel